


Ladybug the Steampunk Princess

by ThisIsMyStory_ItsALittleStrange (TeachUsSomethingPlease)



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Alternative Universe - Kingdom, Assassins & Hitmen, Chloé Bourgeois Redemption, F/M, Lila Rossi Bashing, Princess Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Renewable Resources Punk IDK, Steampunk, This Is Not Going To Go The Way You Think
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-12
Updated: 2020-10-28
Packaged: 2021-03-07 03:07:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,339
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26419963
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TeachUsSomethingPlease/pseuds/ThisIsMyStory_ItsALittleStrange
Summary: So what if Ladybug lived in an AU where Europe stuck to steam power and Asia went for the sun and wind?My attempt at taking the exceedingly teen girl "Marinette is Secretly a Princess" genre and turning it into something with:Politics!Assassins!Random steampunk-ness!Genuine use of Miraculouses!An Adrienette side-plot as convoluted as the show's plotlines!And a genuinely redeemable Chloé!Lila can still burn in the Eighth Circle, though.
Relationships: Adrien & Alya & Chloé & Kagami & Marinette & Nino (Miraculous Ladybug), Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Sabine Cheng & Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug & Tom Dupain
Comments: 4
Kudos: 33





	1. There are no Akumas in this chapter and therefore it must remain nameless.

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know where this came from. I honestly don't. Oh well.  
> Maybe I'll write a Granger Family Reunion with a healthy serving of Death Eaters, "Hi, I work in MI5", and "Parvati, I need your help, no Draco I'm not taking your advice go away." And then Teddy shows up halfway through the last night with bright blue hair "Aunt Mione Victoire and I bLEW UP OUR TEACHER" "YOU WHAT HARRY GET OVER HERE AND CARE FOR YOUR GODSON ALREADY WHAT THE HORCRUXES"  
> Eh. Whatever. I'm getting sidetracked.

The first thing you noticed upon stepping into the Dupain-Cheng bakery was the smell. Unlike the humidity and smoke of the streets outside, the ink and paper of the classrooms, or the fresh grass of the city park, this scent was more subtle, drifting over on warm air, and slipping into a familiar part of your mind until you noticed it. Fresh pasty and butter, mostly, with a slight hint of sweetness and fruit. Not an assault, but a friendly arm slipping around your shoulders, something that made most people breathe deeply and sigh. Marinette Dupain-Cheng, daughter of the bakery’s proprietors, was lucky enough to live with these scents every day. It was something she could never take for granted, reminded of her own little slice of paradise every time she stepped outside and was hit by the unfortunate stench of grey ash and smog.

It was only nine o’clock and Marinette was already wishing she was back at home, working on her designs or helping her parents bake something delicious. Sure, she loved her friends, but some days not even the parks and gardens, little beacons of green in a grey world, could break through the monotone, borderline unpleasant world she lived in.

Sure, Paris was beautiful if you were a traveller, all airships and arches and the Eiffel tower, birds flapping through the sky and winding streets of cafés and shops, but that didn’t negate the huge columns of steam and smoke that billowed to the sky, or the pervading smell of carbon in the air. France had made its decision long ago; pursuing carboxylium ore like the rest of Romance and Germanic Europe, while the Americas turned to coal and oil, Scandinavia, the Balkans and Russa researched nuclear power, and Asia adopted terraforming and generators. That was just how it was. Paris was beautiful, with her architecture and intricate gardens, and she would always be grey.

“Mari?”

“Huh?” Marinette jerked to find her best friend Alya Cesaire watching her through glasses-wearing hazel eyes, a knowing smile on her face.

“You spaced out again there, girl,” Alya said, shaking her head slightly. “C’mon, Miss Bustier is giving another announcement soon, you don’t want to miss out on that, do you?”

“Oh! Right,” Marinette said sheepishly, gathering her things on her desk.

Alya smiled affectionately. “So, did you see the akuma attack last night?”

Marinette winced internally. It was hard not to see the attacks when she was one half of Paris’s biggest crime-fighting team, but it wasn’t like she could ever tell Alya so. Instead, she just nodded in confirmation.

“Ladybug and Chat did so well,” Alya gushed. “I could never have guessed their weakness was the lack of bendable arms.”

“I suppose it must have seemed logical at the time,” Marinette commented.

“Maybe,” Alya said. “I’m just disappointed I couldn’t talk to them! Mom made me stay in the house with my siblings.”

“It’s probably safer,” Marinette pointed out. She was pretty sure she still had a decent bruise on her ribs.

“I suppose,” Alya sighed. “It’s just disappointing, girl.”

Sometimes Marinette wondered whether Alya’s occasional call-ups as Rena Rouge were having an effect on her recklessness, but before she could make any comment, on that or something else, Miss Bustier was walking into the room and asking the class to quieten down. As the chatter slipped into whispers, the teacher smiled at the class, placing down her materials on her desk.

“Good Morning, Class. As you know, this year we were meant to be going on the Year Level trip to Japan. Unfortunately, we have just received noticed that a recent series of storms has damaged most of the country, and our accommodation and sightseeing plans won’t be able to go ahead with the damage.”

The air was filled with dismayed whispers as the students speculated as to what would happen. Chloé in particular looked upset. Marinette knew she had been looking forward to the trip for a long time, not that she would admit it to anyone. Marinette was pretty sure Chloé was mostly interested in the shopping, but the point remained.

“Class! Shh, please.” Miss Bustier waited for the students’ conversations to die down before she continued. “Luckily for us, Mr Damocles was about to secure an alternative arrangement through our travel agent. Instead of Japan, we’re going to be visiting China. While we’re currently not certain on the full itinerary, we will be arriving and leaving on the same day, so you don’t need to change any plans, and you should be able to take the same things with you.”

Marinette perked up as the class once again started whispering to each other. She couldn’t remember when she’d last been to her mother’s homeland, and it would be a nice experience, truly. She had even spent a little time brushing up on her language skills since the disaster with Great Uncle Cheng (nothing said visit disaster like getting akumatized, really) so she would be able to speak a little, unlike last time, when she was a floundering mess.

“Class! Alright. Yes, this is exciting, but we need to get onto our lessons now. Please turn to page 120…” Miss Bustier started writing instructions on the board as the students reluctantly ceased their conversations. It was disappointing to be missing out on Japan, but what would China be like?

The schoolyard was buzzing that day with information.

“Ooh! Look at this,” Chloé squealed happily. Marinette glanced up to see Chloé had plugged her Samsung into her pocket engine and was scrolling through something.

“What is it, Chloé?” Sabrina asked eagerly, looking over the blonde’s shoulder.

“Look at these dresses! Why don’t we have these in Paris? Adri-en, why doesn’t your Dad make these?”

“He only makes European things, I think, Chloé,” Adrien said from his seat next to Nino. “Marinette might be able to make one for you.”

“Huh? Oh! Yeah, maybe,” Marinette managed to splutter out. Alya giggled slightly as her friend struggled to act like a normal person around her crush. Honestly, Mari.

“Huh, I suppose,” Chloé said. “I wonder if they had these in Japan…”

“Probably not,” Sabrina said.

“I know a tailor in China!” Lila squealed. “I could introduce you, Chloé!”

“Forget the clothes,” Kim grumbled. “It’ll be nice to find food that isn’t practically bootleg. With the migration waves they had after the re-industrialization, I might be able to find a breakfast where the noodles aren’t practically made of croissant.”

Nino snorted.

“Isn’t your uncle that chef?” Rose asked.

“Great Uncle Cheng,” Marinette nodded. “But he’s always busy, so it’d be quite hard for the school to arrange anything so soon.”

“Yeah, the trip’s only in a fortnight,” Max noted. “That’s not long to change plans in.”

“I wonder what we’ll come back to,” Alya said thoughtfully. “A lot can change in Paris in ten days. Especially with Hawk Moth around.”

It could indeed.

* * *

“Maman, Papa! I’m home!” Marinette called, stepping through the bakery doors. The moment she got past the shopfront, she bobbed down and took the power stocks off her ankles. The heavy weight of carboxylium ore toned down her clumsiness a little, but walking around with them on was still a task, though it beat carrying the stocks in her bag by a mile. Another thing that made China different; while most of Asia used pocket generators, Europeans carried around their power source and a pocket engine that made using technology on the go both heavy and rather hot. America primarily used large battery packs, Russia, Scandinavia, and the Balkans were covered in power ports every five steps, and nobody really seemed to have bothered to help out Africa, which was currently struggling with a post-colonial mess.

Skipping up to her bedroom, Marinette quickly dumped her bag and let Tikki out of her purse. The speckled red kwami popped out of the zipper and flew around the room, stretching her wings.

“Isn’t this exciting Marinette! You haven’t been back since you’ve been Ladybug!”

“I wonder how Paris will fare without Ladybug,” Marinette murmured to herself. “Hawk Moth is after the Miraculouses, But if he knew who we were…”

“Chloé is the only one who knows your identity, and she promised not to tell,” Tikki reminded Marinette, and the girl nodded. It was part of the reason she could stand being around Chloé nowadays. After a day spent fighting a particularly tough akuma, Queen Bee had seen enough detransformations and retransformations to figure out who Ladybug and Chat Noir were and had promptly been sworn to secrecy on pain of losing her right to the Bee Miraculous. Over time after the incident, Chloé had mellowed out, perhaps from knowing the heroine she’d spent so long idolising was in fact her clumsy classmate, not that Marinette was in any way immune to Chloé’s teasing. Being called Clumsy Bug was much better than being Trash, anyway. Sure, Chloé was still hyperprivileged (and a massive Ladynoir shipper, much to Chat’s intense joy), but her sharp edges had smoothed out enough for her to that one irritatingly rich friend rather than that one irritatingly rich pain. In addition, if there was one thing Marinette appreciated about the new Chloé Bourgeoise, it was that she took everything Lila said with a healthy pinch of salt – sometimes a large tumblerful of salt, and although there was probably some envy involved, at least Chloé was using her brain.

“I suppose Chloé does know, but if she was going to tell, she would have done so ages ago,” Marinette nodded, “And anyway, she’s much nicer now. I’m more worried about who will deal with the akuma if I’m not here. The Ladybug Miraculous is the only one that can purify it.”

“You can’t leave the rest of the Miraculouses unguarded either,” Tikki pointed out. “We’re going to have to be careful, Marinette.”

“I know, I know,” Marinette sighed. “I’ve just got to think of a solution…”

Before she could, though, the trapdoor in the floor opened up and her parents climbed up, Tikki whizzing into Marinette’s bag to avoid being spotted. As Tom and Sabine came through the opening and sat down in her room, Marinette noticed they both looked down. Sabine in particular had shiny tracks on her face, much to her daughter’s dismay. “Maman ? Papa ? What’s wrong?”

Tom sighed. “Marinette, we have bad news.”

“My grandfather, my father, and a number of my family were on a ship to visit Japan,” Sabine began. “Marinette, it went into a storm and never arrived.”

“Oh!” Marinette gasped, tears springing up. “That’s awful, Maman!”

Sabine nodded sadly. “It was a part of the effort to mend diplomacy between the two countries. You know they never got on so well, and Japan is in a rather bad state at the moment. My grandfather thought it was a good time to extend a hand.”

“What’s going to happen now?” Marinette asked. “Will we be going to the funeral?”

“Of course we will,” Tom reassured her, putting an arm around his wife. “There will be a ceremony while you’re in China, actually, and we’ve requested permission to pull you out for the day.”

“Oh,” Marinette said. She was upset, though she didn’t really know her extended family. Something seemed a little off, though. Her parents were both slightly twitchy in a way that spoke of more than grief. “Is there… something else?” she asked, watching their expressions carefully.

“Mari,” Tom said slowly, “Your great-grandmother will be taking over for the time being, but she’s very old. The older generations have been wiped out, and you know the rules.”

Marinette blanched. “But – Papa! I don’t speak Chinese! I can’t!”

“You’re the closest, sweetie,” Sabine said gently. “It’s not going to be such a big thing, Marinette. We’re very liberal.”

“But – how do I –” Marinette trailed off, unsure of what she was actually trying to say. “What about you, Maman?”

“I’ve been out of the country for 25 years,” Sabine reminded her daughter.

“We know it’s a shock,” Tom told Marinette. “We’ll do our best to support you, we promise. Okay?”

“O – okay,” Marinette replied.

“We’ll give you some time to think,” Tom continued. “Dinner will be ready in a few hours.”

“It’ll be okay,” Sabine promised. “It always is in the end.”

Marinette watched her parents disappear back down the trapdoor. After a moment, Tikki popped out of her bag. “Marinette! I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay, Tikki,” Marinette sighed. “I didn’t get to see most of my relatives very often. I’m upset for Maman, really.”

“What was all that about the rules?” Tikki enquired. As Marinette paused, the kwami rushed on, “You don’t have to tell me! I was just wondering.”

“No, it’s fine,” Marinette assured her friend. “It’s just – my great-grandfather is – was – the Emperor of China.”

Tikki blinked, gears practically visible as the kwami’s mind whirred. “Oh. Well. That’s… a surprise.”

“Yes, it is,” Marinette sighed. “I just jumped from 19th to 2nd in the line of succession. Definitely a surprise.”

“What now?” Tikki asked.

Marinette sighed. “I suppose we’d better go on patrol.”

Tikki hummed in thought but didn’t protest.

Marinette tucked away her bag, transformed with a “Spots on!”, and leapt away into the Parisian skyline.


	2. This Chapter Also Has No Akuma, But It's Called "Infodump" for Obvious Reasons

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, just what the title says, really. A look at where Marinette actually stands in this world.

“Okay,” Marinette sighed, taking one last good look around her bedroom. “Is that everything, do you think, Tikki?”

“Yes, Marinette,” the kwami sighed, shaking her head in exasperation. “You’ve packed everything you’ll need. Don’t worry! If we have forgotten anything, you can get it in China!”

“I suppose,” Marinette replied anxiously. “It’s just – oh, Tikki, I’m so nervous!”

“Don’t be!” Tikki floated up to Marinette and booped her nose. “You’ll do great, Marinette, I promise! You can speak more now, and it’s just a school trip, anyway.”

“I know,” Marinette nodded. “I guess I’m just overthinking things. I know I’ll have to start going out into public sooner or later, I just… worry it’s too soon.”

“You’re a wonderful Ladybug, Marinette,” Tikki assured her. “And I’m sure you’ll make a wonderful princess and a wonderful Empress.”

“Thanks, Tikki,” Marinette said, slowly but with a smile. “You’re the best. Do you want to ride in my pocket, or in the carry-on bag?”

“Carry-on, please,” Tikki chirped. “I want to talk to Kaalki.”

“Alright,” Marinette smiled, picking up the bag and slinging it over her shoulder. “That’s everything!”

Just then, a voice floated up through her bedroom hatch from the bakery floor. “Marinette, sweetie? Have you got everything? You’ve got to be on time today!”

“Coming, _Maman !”_ she called back. Taking one last glance around the room, her eyes flitted past her desk and her cupboard, taking one last check at the spot where she’d hidden the Miracle Box, locked away safe from Hawkmoth. Then, she straightened her shoulders, and climbed downstairs. Early, for once.

* * *

“Gurl, you’ve got to stop,” Alya sighed, watching Marinette glare at the back of Lila’s head. “This sort of thing isn’t good for you.”

Marinette huffed, but stopped glaring. “Alya, remember what we said?”

Alya glanced over at her. “The Yellow River isn’t actually yellow?”

“Not that,” Marinette grumbled. “The other bit. Agree to disagree.”

“Oh, right. Uh – sorry, Mari,” Alya muttered reluctantly.

Marinette just shook her head. “We made an agreement, right?”

“Right,” Alya agreed. “You don’t bother Lila, and I don’t bother you about not believing her. Sorry, Mari. I just – I worry about you. I don’t want my bestie to turn into a – I dunno – a Grinch, or something.”

“I think I’d look good in green,” Marinette said vaguely.

“Well, you are our designer Queen,” Alya joked.

Marinette just nodded, preoccupied. She and Alya had come to a truce. She could genuinely see that Alya was just the sort of headstrong, do-first-think-later sort of person to fall into Lila’s arms, and also that Alya genuinely wanted the best for everyone in the class. But their peace was, at best, tenuous, and it concerned her. For now, she was willing to let it slide, but she was glad she had her Sunshine Squad to back her up.

She was a little put out it had taken so long, but, as it turned out, some of the girls in her class did in fact have the agency and brain cells to put two and two together. Chloé was the first, ironically too prideful of herself to listen to Lila’s ramblings without a second thought. She spent the first week or so in a state of perpetual frustration, and Marinette figured out something was bugging her when the girl stomped up to her with a catalogue and started venting about how _Daddy said I could only buy one, but they’re both so nice, I want one that I can wear more, which one should I get? Mum won’t give me ANY decent advice, I need something pretty._ It took an awful lot of poking, prodding, and bribery, but Chloé had eventually mellowed out enough to be something of a friend (in all honesty, the prospect of getting Pollen back had probably done it for her).

Rose was the second. Ironically, the girl had been one of the most infatuated with Lila when she’d arrived, especially as another ‘friend’ of the Prince, but had smelled a rat when Lila started talking about working on projects on renewable energy. After all, most of, if not all, of Asia had long ago moved to those forms of power, so why was Lila going on about carboxylium mines, of all things? Sure, Prince Ali had indeed noted that things could be cleaner, better, but the main energy source wasn’t the way to go. And so, Rose had sent a text to her friend, and received a conclusive answer. And promptly spent the next three hours crying on her girlfriend’s lap. That had been an awkward house call for Marinette; all she’d wanted to do was come over and check on Luka, and instead she’d nearly been flattened by a slightly damp girl in pink, and then received the most awkward hug ever from a girl with purple hair.

Yes, Marinette had her Sunshine Squad if the class ever failed her, and she was grateful for it, because in reality, though she smiled at each and every one of them, their smiles were always a little off. Kim and Sabrina were obviously infatuated with the girl in the same way as Rose had been, Ivan and Mylène were quiet hangers-on in the whole situation, Max apparently had no common sense, Alya couldn’t resist the ‘scoop’ nor stop think, Nino hovered vaguely, always giving the benefit of the doubt, and Alix and Nathaniel seemingly never picked up anything wrong, wrapped up in their own worlds. As for Adrien, well, he was far too much of a limp lettuce leaf to do anything, even if he could be vociferous online (Marinette blamed Gabriel, but that was past the point). The fact of the matter was, Marinette knew Lila stood in her classmates’ eyes, and not of her own location. A backup plan and good friends were always appreciated.

“Come on, class!” Mlle. Bustier called out. “Everyone please form and orderly line for check-in!”

“Can’t we go using _me?_ ” Kaalki grumbled from inside Marinette’s bag. “This is slow.”

Marinette made a sharp shushing noise under her breath. “Quiet, Kaalki!”

In all honesty, Marinette had wanted to bring the whole Miracle Box, but, as Tikki had so kindly pointed out, it would have been hell to get past security, and _very_ hard to explain to the rest of her classmates. Alya and maybe even Lila would recognize Trixx; Nino would recognize Wayzz, Kim would recognize Xuppu, – heck, Alix might even recognize Fluff, and taking Kaalki was a risk in itself, what with Max having been the Horse Hero once. That wasn’t to say she was leaving each and every Miraculous unattended; she’d instituted new heroes, after all, and she had no clue how Hawkmoth planned to attack, so she’d given them their kwamis to take care of too.

Chloé had Pollen again, much to the delight of both sides. She couldn’t be Queen Bee anymore, that identity was dangerously compromised, but she could moonlight as Honey Buzz ( _no,_ _Chloé, we’re not getting you a Honey Lemon cosplay, stop it_ ). Perhaps the girl was still prideful, and a snob, and, well, rich as hell, but she’d made an effort, and Ladybug had seen fit to reward that. Right now, the Miraculous, re-disguised as a pendant, sat glinting around the girl’s throat, in full view, and nobody was any more the wiser, much to Marinette’s delight.

Rose was holding onto Barkk, the Miraculous disguised as a bracelet. Rose, or Guardian Girl, as she insisted on being called, had squealed the first time she saw the Kwami ( _oh my gosh, you’re like a puppy and a friend at the same time, you’re AMAZING!)_ and was now the Mum Friend of the team. Her ability to empower the fighters in proportion to their loyalty to the Ladybug-Chat duo was a massive asset to the team, as was her ability to use her lasso-style weapon to capture akumas from a distance, just like Ladybug’s yoyo or Honey Buzz’s spinning top. Plus, she carried snacks.

As for Juleka, she had the tiger Miraculous, disguised as a choker. The quiet girl took a dangerous glee in being able to weaponize her usually problematic invisibility problems and would latch onto a target and never let go. She was giddily grateful that Ladybug thought she, of all people, could wield a Miraculous – and once the Sunshine Squad found out who exactly Ladybug was, she was even more so. (Shadow Imperium then proceeded to kiss Guardian Girl in front of half a dozen reporters a week later, much to Roaar’s pride, and didn’t that leave Alya howling about oblivious team leaders?)

Marinette glanced over the rest of the class. Two other Kwamis left in circulation – the cat, and the snake. Sass was on the Couffaine boat, the Snake miraculous disguised as a ring; Marinette hadn’t planned at first to leave all the heroes with their kwami, only those going on the trip with her, for efficiency. But Tikki had insisted – if something went wrong, they needed Jormungandr ( _Yeah, I’m aware what it means. I just want people to know if they fuck with you lot I’ll end them / My god, I can look after myself, brother_ ) to be able to reset without their presence. And as for the Cat…

It had been a complete accident, finding out, and it was only her practice as Ladybug that stopped her from screaming and fainting when she noticed, after yet another conversation with Adrien, that whenever he muttered things about ‘tabloids’ and ‘society’, he _twisted the ring on his hand_. The ring that looked _mighty similar_ to the one Tikki described. And so, she kept her cool, made an excuse, ran home, and screamed into her pillow for a minute straight. No wonder the idiot was so loud and brash online (and no, Marinette was NOT stalking, thank you very much, she was just good at picking things up. Or so she thought). His entire alter ego was based on puns and a catsuit. Kwami-damn-it.

Thank goodness the entire Sunshine Squad already knew who Ladybug and each other were, or else things could have gotten very awkward attempting to retrieve Chat Noir from China. As it stood, Adrien was the only one not to know who the others were. Ladybug admitted she’d have to tell him eventually, but not straight away. She… was not ready for _that_ particular emotional explosion.

Not in the slightest.

“You got a power pack, dudette?” Nino asked, jolting her out of her reverie. “My phone’s gone dead again.”

“Oh! Yeah, it’s in my bag,” Marinette said, reaching into her bag and suppressing a smile as she felt Tikki hand it over. She pulled out the battery pack and handed it over.

“You’ve got a solar one? No wonder you’re so light on your feet today,” Alya moaned. “Mine weighs a tonne.”

Marinette giggled. “Well, I came prepared!”

“Everyday Ladybug,” Adrien mumbled. “She’d bring us cupcakes if she could carry them unsquished.”

From behind them, Chloé snorted. “Too right, Adrikins. Sickly sweet, that one. So… anyone know a good fashion house in China?”

“I do!” Lila exclaimed, materializing as she always did, shoving between Alya and Marinette. Marinette sighed internally, looked around, and raised her eyebrows and Juleka and Rose, who both shot her thumbs up signs, although Rose’s was partly obscured by her breakfast. Marinette quietly excused herself (not that the majority of the people around her noticed, really), and trotted over.

“So,” Rose said, as soon as Marinette came over. “What is it?”

“Fashion house.”

“We should rescue Chloé,” Juleka murmured. “She’s suffered long enough, now.”

“Long enough?” Marinette asked, amused.

“Well, she was a bitch for years, so…”

Rose shook her head, giggling. “Plan 4A?”

Marinette handed her a glossy magazine. “Do your worst.”

Rose took a deep breath, brushed down her skirt, and let out a loud squeal. “OMG, look at this, look at this! Look, Juleka… I want one!”

Juleka and Marinette, acting the part, leaned over Rose’s shoulder. “Uh,” Juleka muttered, frowning slightly. “What’s a peony look like, anyway?”

“Pink and fluffy,” Marinette said. “Like Rose.”

“Look, we could get you this one,” Rose rambled on, “It matches you so nicely…”

“If you say so,” Juleka replied amiably.

“And – and this one fits Marinette – AAH, look look look! This has Chloé all over it!” Rose exclaimed, and sure enough, they had distracted the others enough to let Chloé come over and stare at the magazine, which was, in reality, advertising nothing that matched Chloé and merely an awful lot of flowery dresses.

And so, the majority of the Miraculous Team boarded a flight and slipped away from their homeland.

* * *

In the corner of the airport, a man spoke into his phone.

“Target has departed. Awaiting further directions.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In my other series, Marinette's allies are Adrien, Luka, Chloé, Kagami, Nathaniel, Marc, and Alix. However, I'm using a different group here, because the different backstory has led to a different progression. We aren't so deep into the Lila arc yet, as evidenced by Marinette's cordial if tenuous relationship with Alya, mostly because I like salt, but this is a new version of a salt fic, so it's going to have less salt than usual.  
> So, yeah. Sushine Squad, made up of Everyday Sunshine, Sweet Sunshine, Dark Sunshine, Musical Sunshine, and Uneliable Sunshine, otherwise known as the Miraculous Crew. Lovely.


End file.
